Tesco have recently unveiled the ‘cheapest tablet on the market’ with its £119 Hudl in a bid to rival the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google.
The seven inch Hudl retails at £119 but costs as little as £60 if bought through the supermarkets Clubcard points scheme, striking fierce competition with the iPad mini which costs from £269.
Tesco insisted it had not cut corners to produce the budget tablet and claimed it would beat similarly priced competitors ‘hands down’.
The Hudl has a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 16GB of built-in memory – the same as the iPad mini and Google’s Nexus 7 – and can access the internet and stream music and movies as well as on-demand TV service.
The device also features a ‘Tesco launcher’ button to access online grocery shopping and the supermarket chain’s other businesses including clothing, banking and mobile phone services.
Tesco chief executive Phil Clarke said: ‘We feel the time is right for Tesco to help widen tablet ownership and bring the fun, convenience and excitement of tablets to even more customers.’
The device uses the Android Jelly Bean software and comes in four different colours to choose from – black, blue, purple and red. Its chunky plastic body means it won’t shatter at the first drop. The solid case is easy to hold and features dual speakers on the left and right. Around the edges you’ll also find a micro-USB port for charging and data transfer, volume and power buttons and a mini-HDMI port for hooking it up to a TV if you want to enjoy your movies on a larger display. There’s also a microSD card slot to expand the 16GB of on-board storage. You’re not able to store apps on the SD card though, so you’ll have to make sure you pop all your media on the card to save room on the tablet.
Hudl owners will be able to buy apps, books, music and films from the Google Play store. In addition, owners will get special offers from Tesco-owned site, Blinkbox.
The Hudl has the same basic storage options as its rivals but will only be available with dual-band Wi-Fi at launch, meaning it doesn’t have the 3G or 4G options that the other tablets offer, however, it does have Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
The 7-inch display has a resolution of 1,440×900 pixels. While it doesn’t have the same pin-sharp clarity you’d find on higher resolution tablets, it still manages to display icons and text well, and photos and videos are clear. For everyday tasks like emailing, social networking and web surfing, it does the job well.
The battery life is also good with nine hours worth of frequent use without re-charging. There are also 2MP front- and 3MP rear-facing cameras, perfect for those skype meetings and conference calls.
Tablets have proved hugely popular since the launch of the iPad three years ago and some forecasters have predicted they will overtake sales of traditional computers by the end of this year. The Hudl is the perfect family-sharing device and comes with a very good-looking price tag so is a real contender in the tablet market; a great addition to the family.
For more information, visit the official website here.
